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August 2023 by Patricia Fukuda O'Donnell
Our son has had an incredible experience at Flying Fish. After 1.5 seasons and two summer camp sessions, Luke is a much more solid and confident swimmer. His progress in freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke was considerable. He moved to Competitive level also with butterfly - a style he didn't know last year. Thanks to all the coaches, particularly coach Michael, for the technique and enthusiasm he transmitted to all the students.
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July 2023 by Patricia F.
Our son has had an incredible experience at Flying Fish. Luke is a much more solid and confident swimmer. His progress in freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke was considerable. He moved to Competitive level also with butterfly - a style he didn't know last year. Thanks to all the coaches, particularly Coach Michael, for the technique and enthusiasm he transmitted to all the students.
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July 2023 by Rob W.
I came to Flying Fish (FF) because it has its own pool, flexible class hours, and afternoon summer camps.However, the flexibility is because the majority of the swim teachers are inexperienced high schoolers. Further, there is no guarantee for teacher consistency. unfortunately, It comes about with slow progress for the children.An additional con are the owner pro policies. No make-up classes, switching hours is costly, and there are no refunds for no reasons. very different from all other places.We went prior to swim splash in Mountain view, and the teachers are more experienced, but it is very hard to find a time slot that works. In summary, I would come here if you can identify an experienced teacher, or while on a waitlist for a better school and teacher.
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February 2023 by Tamanna Kazi
My kids started going to Flying Fish again this past year and are having a good experience. The manager - Jennifer - has an eye on all the kids classes and doi g a lot to establish consistency. The problem with coaches leaving is still there cos they are high school students but the mgmt is keeping an eye on kids progress.They are enjoying and learning. That's all we ask :)----5 years back -----I sent my young child 5-6 year old to group lessons here. We did not have a good experience since the teachers changed literally very class. Each teacher used the same approach and could not tailor according to the child's needs. My child did not like going to the pool. Since then we have changed the swim school and send him to Abilities United where he learnt to like swimming and is doing very well.
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February 2023 by Oi-Yan Chung
My son has been going to Flying Fish for the past two years. He joined in 2021, and he has taken both private and semi-private lessons. We are happy with his progress and our overall experience with the school. My son did not like the water, but it was important to us that he learned to swim (for safety reasons). We decided to try a private swim class at Flying Fish during the pandemic.Here are the pros:- We like the consistency of weekly classes year round. This greatly helped my son to improve and to build his confidence in the water. I especially appreciate swim classes during the winter. The water was warm, and my son never complained about the temperature of the water.- Yes, the coaches change with each session, but we’ve had good experiences with most of them. We especially want to give a shut out to coach Isaiah. He really cares about the students, and my son loves him. He has the ability to engage students, but be tough at the same time.- Our interactions with the manager (Jennifer) have been great. I can certainly see the difference after she started working there. She genuinely cares about each student, and strives to make each class a positive experience. In addition, she works hard to build connections with the families. When we had an issue with a coach, and she worked with us to resolve the issue. She actually noticed the issue before I saw what happened that day (my son is very sensitive, and the coach was not able to connect with him, which made my son very upset.) This was the only negative interaction we’ve had with a coach, but we were able to work through it together. I hope the owners recognize and appreciate the work that she does for the school to improve the experience for both students and parents.- My son went from being barely able to swim, to a confident swimmer with the ability to swim three different strokes. I am happy with his progress, even though it took two years. In general, they will not push a student beyond their ability, which is just fine with me.- They take safety at the pool seriously. I have seen staff scanning the pool at all times, and giving warnings to kids when they are doing something unsafe.- The location of the school is great because it is close to home. I would rather pay a little more to not have to drive 20 mins (one way) to attend a 30 mins swim class. The time saving is a major plus for our family.Needs improvement:- Currently you have to come in person to register for a class, and pay with a check if you want to avoid the credit card fee. I hope they will move this process online (we do live in Silicon Valley, after all). It is very stressful to make sure we sign up early enough to get the dates/times that we want for a class. (Private and semi-private classes are limited).- Turnover among coaches seems to be an issue with many swim schools. We had this experience at the Y as well. I can see they are making a focused effort in training their coaches. Just because someone is a good swimmer, does not mean they can teach. This is especially true when working with very young kids who are afraid of the water. I have seen some coaches do very well in making kids feel comfortable, and some coaches struggle with a crying child.- As mentioned in other reviews, they have a very strict policy that might not work with every family. Each session lasts many weeks, and there are no makeups for vacation or being sick. That is one reason we went to semi-private classes with a friend. That way, if we have to miss a class, at least the other family can benefit from it.- Private and semi-private classes are expensive, and I’m sure this is a major consideration for many families. But then again, we are paying for the convenience of not having to drive far from home.- When we first started the classes, it felt very crowded. There were 3 or 4 groups in one lane. Since then, it has gotten much better. Maybe it depends on the level of the group. My son’s class now takes up the entire lane.
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February 2023 by m l
Jennifer the manager is who you want to look for if you have questions, she is very patience with my little 3 yrs old when he first started swimming school. Jennifer helped my little boy transition into the water, she even jumped In to the water to help other coaches and encouraged my crying little one. I always talk to her first if I have consurn.The switching coaches only happens at the beginning of the season, it was hard for my kidd to adapting new coach, we are luck that they put my (older son 7)to same coach every season as we signed up for samiprivate classes.I love the swimming pool is always clean and warm. We have been swimming there over a year now, I hope they will open up more advance swimming class for kids who want to join swimming team.
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January 2023 by Brook C.
We have been at Flying fish for 2 semesters and so far, so great! My 4 year old is really nurtured and taken care of by her teacher which is super important. A good option is offered for any missed lessons also with a voucher being produced to take your child (for free) to one of their open swim sessions. Price is about right and on par with other schools but the space to swim is dramatically more generous.
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January 2023 by Ekaterina Fedorova
The staff at this facility are highly attentive and create a positive atmosphere. The teaching methods employed are highly effective, as evidenced by my 5 year old daughter's rapid acquisition of swimming skills and confidence in the water.
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December 2022 by Meng Di
The manager is very rude. And the teacher seldom provide guidance, just let you swim backwards and forwards. My kid made very little progress here. Don’t waste your time and money here!
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July 2022 by Annabelle B.
Great place for a beginner. They teach the basics and my son is having fun learning here.
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June 2022 by Ekaterina Dontsova
Stir clear of this swimming school.We spent a year taking their classes. For 4 months 4 teachers have changed in one group and 2 in the second group (we took 2 times a week). The kids and teacher were barely able to adjust to each other - when the next teacher coming and should go through all the adjustment process from scratch.Keep in mind they have extremely inflexible policy if your kid is sick and you have to skip some classes or put your classes on pause. We purchased 2 classes per week, one group and one semiprivate (!). In the very beginning of session my kid developed skin rush and doctor recommended to put swimming pool on pause until it settles down. Not only they didn't allow us to freeze the session and have credit for the next one (we were going to return), but after multiple phone calls and emails they only agree to return 50% of money. This was in January 2022, it's June now and we are still waiting for our return, periodically calling them and writing emails and being pushing back with "we are working on it, that you for your patience" and "the person who is in charge doesn't work here anymore and we don't have anyone to make the return".Will never recommend this school to anyone!
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June 2022 by Sean G.
Buyer beware. I can relate to an earlier reviewer that said "they are very nice, until you pay". We had a bad experience as a first time customer. They made us feel awful about keeping our child home sick. They are averaging 1.7 star rating since 2021. This is the lowest rated swim school in the bay area and I'm not surprised. Wish I had looked closer at the recent reviews first.If you are the type of parent that would keep your sick child home from class, then be mentally prepared to keep paying for those missed classes. The refund policy in their fine print is not in your best interest. To put it plainly, they will squeeze you. We missed 5 of 8 classes in a session due to our child catching Covid (possibly at swim class, we can't be sure). Of the $306 we paid, they offered $32 credit. It is disheartening to me that with all we've learned about public health these past few years, policies like this continue to incentivize families to send sick kids to class.If you do decide to enroll, here are some tips in case you run into a cancellation scenario like ours: Don't attempt to provide notice verbally, or by leaving a voicemail. They will acknowledge you, they will make you feel heard, but those will not count as official notice. They will ask you to submit it in writing, and begin their "refund calculation" only from the date of writing. The refund calculation will not be retroactive to when the sickness, emergency, or positive tests began. Write to them immediately. You may think that a reasonable manager would honor a one-on-one conversation; not at Flying Fish.Here is their refund policy, quoted directly from the email reply we received:"Below are our refund policies:No Refund, Credits, or makeup will be given once the session start.There are no makeup lessons, credits or refunds for scheduled lessons you miss.Cancellation is offered with a doctor's note and 50% credit for remaining classes, plus $30 process fee.And we only take email requests (written requests) for refund."I understand businesses need to protect themselves from being taken advantage of. Refund policies need to exist and that's fine. At the end of the day the reason we won't be back is the way they treated us: demeaning language both in conversation and via email. Our kids are very young with many years of swimming lessons left. We will be taking our business elsewhere. Here are other businesses we are now looking into: SafeSplash. The Swim Pro. Privateers. Waterworks. Laurelwood. Killarney. Green meadow. Alto.
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June 2022 by Miss T.
I gave this a shot in 2019. I still feel terrible about bringing my child here. The instructors are not very good--seems like some just need a summer job. To my left, there would be 3 small kids having a lesson at the same time. The instructor would half pay attention, and it seemed like the kids would go in and out of falling too deep in the water. The instructor I had was a young woman too distracted trying to get the attention of another young man who was also an instructor. At one point she left my 4 year old in the middle of the pool! So she could talk to a guy by the edge of the pool. Literally the child, who had only learned to put their face in the water and was learning how to dunk their head (while being held) was going under--bubbles and all and I screamed for her to go get the child. She did but didn't apologize. She didn't care. Although she was in the middle of teaching my child to trust holding her while the child dunked her head. The instructor the let her go mid lesson to go talk to the guy. How is that ok? Um hello that's why we are all here, for the children to learn how to swim. We are not paying for flirtation and water trauma. There might be some good instructors here but I'm still tormented thinking about those moments the instructor literally left my child in the middle of the pool--and no one noticing the poor child going under. What if I hadn't been there? They had a lifeguard but the teen was on their phone. I'd never go here again.
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April 2022 by Hanna Zhang
Worst experience ever! Don't recommend at all.1. The manager and staff in front desk are very rude and don’t know how to show proper respect to their customers. For example, they asked me to come in person for finishing the registration and starting the class but told me the spot was just taken by another customer when l arrived. They didn’t feel sorry about the change at all and asked me to come in another day.2. They frequently change instructors even in the same session. lt really hurts continuity and make my son progress very slowly. Although my son finished a session but still learnt the same thing in the new semi-private session because the paired student is at beginner level with zero swimming experience. When l talked the issue with a staff at the front desk, l wad told that's all my observation and subjective opinion so refused any changes even in a new session. Excuse me! l think they just use this trick on purpose for rentention and maximizing money earrings. l didn't feel they put customer's swimming skill and class quality first but feel like they are very money driven.3. The pool is not clean. When they found a vomiting incident, they just took some vomit and poured some chemicals in the pool. Then they resumed the class although most people felt the pool is disgusting. They refused to reschedule the class and said only 10min left for the class. So over 10 students paid 30min class but were given 10min class at that day. We understand this is the incident but they didn't feel embarrassed at all.
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April 2022 by Tiffany C.
I've only gone to 2 lessons so far and it's better than the city of mountain view swim classes.b ratio is very good: 2 teachers for 4 girls and the water is nice and warm. I went because I wanted harsher teachers to force my daughter to swim but they're actually not harsh at all. She does more of the exercises because she likes it. You have to go in person to register and pay and it's unclear what dates/times are available but once registered it's been fine.
